Catherine the Great & Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair

Serenissimus then confided in the credulous Englishman that the Empress was an over-cautious woman capable of feminine hysteria about her mignons. Potemkin himself alternated between expressions of political impotence and explosions of bombast. He attacked Panin, that ‘indolent and torpid minister’ – while himself lying in bed in the middle of the day. Harris was almost bewitched by Potemkin’s friendship, flamboyance and apparent honesty.³³

In February 1780, Serenissimus summoned Harris to announce, ‘with an impetuous joy analogous to his character’, the despatch of an armament of fifteen ships-of-the-line and five frigates ‘to protect Russian trade’. But Potemkin must have known that this was a fatal blow to Harris’s entire mission.³⁴ It was the sequel to Catherine’s successful mediation in the War of the Bavarian Succession. Britain claimed the right to detain neutral ships and condemn their cargo, but had made the mistake of detaining Russian ships. This maritime highhandedness angered neutrals, including Russia. In March 1780, Catherine therefore declared the principles of neutral rights at sea in her so-called ‘Armed Neutrality’, designed to puncture British arrogance, increase the Russian merchant navy and raise her prestige. Harris would have to offer more to get Russian attention.

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Sir James wondered if Potemkin had been bribed by France or Prussia. At the same time, the French and Prussians suddenly thought Potemkin had been bribed by the English. This venal paranoia unleashed an orgy of bribery which must have seemed like manna from heaven to the greedy servants of Petersburg who were its main beneficiaries.

Harris was sure Corberon had bribed all the ‘valets de chambre and inferior agents in the Russian houses…being chiefly French’. Versailles was indeed determined to keep Russia out of the war and it was willing to throw money around St Petersburg to fix it – the French even boasted they had enough to buy Potemkin.³⁵ ‘I almost suspect my friend’s fidelity has been shaken,’ Harris confided to Viscount Stormont, Secretary of State for the North. Corberon was already telling Versailles that Harris disposed of a credit of £36,000 and had paid 100,000 roubles to Potemkin. Orlov-Chesmensky accused the Prince of receiving 150,000 British guineas. Harris thought France was paying £4,000/5,000 to Panin’s family.

At the end of March 1780, Harris could contain himself no longer. If the French were bribing ‘my friend’, then Britain should outbid them with a ‘similar bait’. The bribe market in St Petersburg now boomed like a bourse. Reminding Stormont that he was dealing with a ‘person immensely wealthy’, Harris suggested ‘as much as Torcy proposed, but without success, to Marlborough’.³⁶ Even the paymaster of Europe must have gulped.^*9 The Prussians and Austrians were also paying court to Potemkin. Harris observed the Prussian envoy in daily conferences with Potemkin and heard he was again offering Courland or ‘to insure him in the case of the Empress’s demise for his person, honours and property’ – that is, in the event of Paul’s succession. The Austrians on the other hand were rumoured to be offering him another principality.³⁷

Was Potemkin being bribed or not? The elephantine sums of 100,000 roubles or 150,000 guineas were mentioned in late 1779, but research into ‘the Secret Service Funds’ shows that, by November, Harris had drawn only £1,450 and was later told off for spending £3,000. Even put together, this might have pleased Sashenka Engelhardt, but was not even table money for the Prince himself. Harris’s doubts ‘disappeared’ – he realized that Potemkin’s ‘immense fortune places him above the reach of corruption’. Rich men can often be bribed with a little bit more, but Harris was probably right when he said that Potemkin could ‘only be attained by strict attention to his humour and character’. This was emphasized when Catherine gave her friend £40,000 sterling, according to Harris, to thank him for his help on the Armed Neutrality. It was a huge sum, but ‘so spoilt is this singular man that he scarcely considers it worth thanks’. The Prussian Goertz agreed that Potemkin was unbribable: ‘riches can do nothing – his are immense’.

Panin put all these figures into context when he disdainfully asked, ‘Do you really believe that £50,000 sterling is enough to buy Prince Potemkin?’ When Potemkin heard the rumour that Harris had given him two million roubles, he despised the very idea. The Englishman was convinced of Potemkin’s nobility. Serenissimus was too proud and too rich to be bribed.³⁸